JASON BRIGHT CLAIMS A PIECE OF TCR HISTORY AT SMSP

Jason Bright added another laurel to his already impressive motorsport career with victory in the inaugural race of the Car Sales.Com.au TCR Australia (Touring Car Racing) Series at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Sixteen cars lined up for the first TCR race in Australia after James Moffat reportedly broke a turbo seal in his Renault Megane on the way to the grid and left a sizable trail of oil on the track. After Moffat’s car was recovered and the offending oil was mopped up, the cars headed off for the formation lap.

Bright, who started from second on the grid, launched his Golf GTi off the grid to snare a narrow lead from pole sitter Tony D’Alberto in the Honda Civic Type R. Bright positioned the Task Force GTi perfectly to defend his position on the run towards turn 2, while Will Brown looked to drive around the outside of the pair in the HMO Hyundai i30 N. Brown found it difficult to turn in as he ran alongside Bright through the apex of the corner and lost speed at the exit, handing second back to the Honda.

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The trio maintained those positions throughout the course of the race, as Brown looked for a way around the vastly experienced D’Alberto. Bright took full advantage of the dice behind to establish a healthy lead as the laps counted down. Dylan O’Keefe moved the Ashley Seward owned Alfa Romeo Giuleitta Quadrifoglio Verde towards the rear wing of Brown in the closing laps, but was also unable to find the extra tenth to challenge for the final place on the podium.

Jimmy Vernon moved the second Alfa Romeo forward during the early stages of the race and battled with Nathan Morcom in the HMO Hyundai before a tyre issue saw the Alfa Romeo leave a trail of smoke as Vernon took to the run off area. He managed to return to the pits for a new tyre and a clean out of the clogged front splitter and circulated to the finish with an excellent race pace.

Bright won from D’Alberto and Brown. O’Keefe, Rik Breukers, John Martin, Aaron Cameron, Morcom, Chris Pither and Andre Heimgartner rounded out the top 10.

Chelsea Angelo took an excellent 12th place at the finish to head Alexandra Whitley and Molly Taylor, while Almond and Vernon rounded out the 16 finishers after both made pit stops during the 16 lap race.

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